Education for all in Kosovo

Arti is assisted in his day-to-day school activities by Xhenneta Shabani, a graduate from the pedagogical faculty who joined the project team as an intern. As soon as she began work, she got together with the class teacher to devise an individual learning plan for Arti and started on its implementation. “Children with special needs face different challenges: some of them may have difficulties with reading, some with maths or with other subjects. We therefore devise and implement an individual learning plan for each child with special needs,” says Xhenneta.

Xhenneta helps Arti during class and is present all the time in the classroom along with the regular teacher. As well as working with Arti, she also supports other children. Her long-term professional plan is to work as a school counsellor, so the experience that she gained in this project is extremely valuable. “Perhaps the best part of my engagement in this project is that when I start working as a school counsellor, I will be able to transfer all the knowledge from this project to the school that I am working in so also other teachers and children can benefit,” she says.

The Education for All project is being implemented by the Czech non-governmental organisation (NGO) People in Need and partners from Kosovo. Njomza Emini from People in Need explains how essential the project is for children with special needs in Kosovo. “We had cases where schools were reluctant to admit children with special needs, as they need dedicated attention and schools lack the support staff. Even if they had time for them, the existing teachers lack specific training on addressing the needs of these children,” says Njomza.

Her project therefore runs a programme engaging 42 interns supporting 250 children like Arti who have special needs or are from vulnerable communities. The project also offers training to regular teachers on inclusive education of children with special needs. So far, the project has trained over 150 teachers and they are planning to train up to 225 by the end of the project. The training has included topics such as the principles of inclusion, communication with children with special needs, and identifying and managing cases of bullying. “The training was very much welcomed by the schools’ managers and the teachers who participated,” says Njomza.

In devising the teacher training, the project benefited from the experience of the “Varianty” education department at People in Need in the Czech Republic and their use of the guidelines of the European Agency for Inclusive Education. “There are considerable gaps in inclusive education in Kosovo, and until our institutions manage to fill these gaps, the support from the EU and other donors is very important,” says Njomza.

The project has another component focused on the improvement of inclusive education at an institutional level. Inclusive education platforms have been set up in each project location including local stakeholders such as the municipality, human rights organisations, and parents. The inclusive education platform in the town of Janjeva/ Janjevo, has managed to secure the sustainability of the internship programme by including it in the municipal budget even after the completion of the project. In Obiliq/ć they managed to renovate the dedicated classroom for children with special needs with the support of the municipality.